著者

雪村 まゆみ

出版者

社会学研究会

雑誌

ソシオロジ (ISSN:05841380)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.52, no.1, pp.87-102,155, 2007

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In recent years, commercial animated films have been produced in large quantities through a specialized production system. However, in the early days of making animations, only a limited number of cartoonists were engaged in producing animated films on a small scale and as a secondjob. Through an analysis of interviews, as well as articles appearing in movie magazines between 1928 and 1945 (with a collection of notes written by animators), the present study aims at clarifying the relationship between the war and animation by considering the purposes and subjects of animated films, and the process whereby the actual production system was established for animation-making. Special attention is given to clarifying the birth of the animator as a professional, which made the production system possible. The results of my investigation show that in pre-war Japan - just as in the case of other traditional arts or jobs - animation production took place within a simple apprenticeship system. In wartime Japan, the military press officer Tadao Yoneyama realized the efficiency of animated films in enhancing the appeal among the common people of National Mobilization and the idea of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, by eliminating a sort of language barrier. The military thus produced numerous animated films with a propaganda purpose. As a result, the basis of the current production system was established. Numerous animated films were created to help in military training, such as aircraft maneuvers and bomb release. Since animation-making for this purpose requires a high degree of technical knowledge, animators were no longer simple cartoonists but rather experts who knew how to draw animation figures according to the movement of objects. In this way, the actual production system established by the military meant that animation was connected with the state, and institutionalized. This paper also suggests the aspect of media whereby animation films are used for a national policy.